Mobile advertising revenue to cross $2 billion - Says Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan has predicted that mobile advertising revenue in the U.S. could reach the magical $2 billion mark in 2012.

The fact that more than 85% of Americans, around 250 million of them, carry a mobile phone gives mobile advertising companies an enormous chance to reach a diverse customer base. So, we can expect a huge surge in mobile advertising revenues in the coming years.

The only concern, and possibly the most important concern, is that mobile advertisers and the network operators should see to it that they don’t cross the line between ‘targeted advertising’ and ‘invading privacy’. The very thought that someone, in this case mobile advertisers, knows where they are all the time turns off a lot of mobile users. So, mobile advertisers should be careful with what they do with the personal information of mobile users. If used properly, this could result in a highly profitable and highly targeted advertising model where both the customer and the advertiser are happy. If dealt wrongly, this could result in a major backlash from the customers. So, it’s a fine line indeed.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising.

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Is ad-funded mobile TV the future?

Communicasia is one of the most talked about IT events this year and Communicasia 2008 is underway as I’m writing this blog. A congregation of IT and communication majors from all over the world are expected to be there and the list of attendees is quite impressive.

MComms TV, an Australian company, caught my attention. It is a mobile TV innovation company and it showcased a software-based solution which in my opinion can play a huge part in mobile TV in the future.

MComms Ad Insert, the software-based solution, places advertisements in live mobile TV streams seamlessly. The company couldn’t have chosen a better time. Just recently, Verizon and AT&T launched their own mobile TV service and they both received lukewarm reception from mobile users. The reason is pretty clear. Mobile users, a big number of them, are not ready to pay a monthly subscription for mobile TV yet. In this case, the only way to make users tune into mobile TV is to offer the service for free. Which is possible only if it’s ad-funded. You get the picture?

Now at this juncture, a technology like MComms Ad Insert could come handy. Operators can now try to offer free mobile TV backed with advertisements. After all, the users get to access a variety of mobile content including but not limited to music videos, TV shows, and movie trailers.

What do you say? Have any of you guys subscribed to Verizon or AT&T’s mobile TV service? Will you give it a try if it was free of cost? Let me know your views.

Categories: Mobile TV.

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Free mobile calls could be the future - II

Remember I talked about the possibility of free mobile calls some time back? Well; here’s one more company which is excited about that possibility.

Aura Interactive, a Bluetooth marketing company, is the one I’m talking about. The company is known for its Bluezones, which send targeted Bluetooth based ads to mobile users. Recently, the company’s CEO said that they are planning to expand the company and come up with new prospects and innovative marketing strategies. He also hinted at the possibility of offering free mobile calls to users as one of the ideas. However, he quickly added that they haven’t decided anything on that yet and it might take some time before they start working on that idea.

I’ve been watching the mobile advertising industry for the past year or two and I’ve heard people talk about the possibility of free mobile calls, free text messages, free mobile web usage, and a lot more. Especially with companies like Blyk becoming popular, this idea is being considered by quite a few companies.

What do you feel about this? Are you okay with the concept of ad supported mobile calls? Or would you rather pay your bill and have an ad-free mobile phone?

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones.

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Advertising in mobile games - A summary

This post is kinda like a summary. Of everything I’ve talked about advertising on mobile games so far. A couple of my friends asked me to explain mobile games, the concept of advertising in mobile games, how they do it, why they do it, and of course some official facts and figures to back up my claims. Though I’ve talked about mobile games and advertising in mobile games quite often in this blog, I thought it would be nice to summarize it in just one post to make it easier for my readers. So, here it goes.

If you were to rate some of the most favorite pastimes of mobile users, mobile video games would certainly be one of them. From kids to teenagers to adults, everyone likes to spend a little time on mobile games every now and then. And downloading a game to your mobile phone has become ever so easy thanks to mobile advertisers. You have ad funded mobile video games that are free to download and they are very popular among people now. In fact, media analyst Screen Digest predicts that by 2012, over 60 million mobile games will be downloaded per year. That’s a monstrous number which just goes to show the popularity of mobile video games.

There are two ways in which advertisers place their ads in mobile video games. First, ads are placed before and after a game. This is by far the most common form of advertising in mobile video games. You download a game and when you’re about to start playing it, you’ll be shown some ad spots. Then when you finish playing the game, you’ll be shown some more ad spots. This method works well with users as they are not disturbed during the course of the game. Also, advertisers tend to gain from this as there is no way these ads can go unnoticed.

Second method is called product placement. Now, this method is even more refined and the ads are blended seamlessly into the gaming environment. In this method, you’ll not find ads popping up before or after the game. Instead, you’ll find them placed within your game. The soccer players might be wearing Nike jerseys, the boxers might be wearing Adidas shoes, and the signboards might have Microsoft logos. This way, the brands are shown to us in a subtle way and it doesn’t distract our attention on the game at all. So, this method is also pretty popular with advertisers these days.

The mobile advertising industry is growing fast and ad funded mobile games have never been so popular. There are plenty of companies that offer free mobile games for download which are completely ad funded. Going by the popularity of these games, the prediction made by Screen Digest very much looks like a possibility in the next few years.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Mobile Games.

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Microsoft says yes to banner ads in mobile phones

Microsoft has announced that it will allow advertisers to serve mobile users with banner ads from now on. Advertisers will now be able to display banner ads to mobile users using Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Hotmail. However, this is restricted only to the users in the U.S., France, Spain, and the U.K.

By doing this, Microsoft has joined the list of companies like Google, AdMob, Yahoo, and Third Screen which serve banner ads to mobile users.

Microsoft also hinted that it might soon introduce keyword advertising service in Windows Live Search Mobile. Though the beta version is available in the U.S. now, Microsoft believes that there is still room for improvement and it might hit the market only later this year. Microsoft is also working on expanding its presence in mobile market and has made Live Search Mobile available in 49 markets.

It’s good to see that Microsoft has put the Yahoo fiasco behind and working to improve its position in the mobile market. However, with Yahoo going great guns and Google looking to leave no stone unturned for Android, it better be watchful.

Categories: Cell Phone Advertising, All things mobile phones, Microsoft, Mobile Web.

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